That was a wild weekend in Richmond Hill over Mother's Day weekend! We had gotten such short notice to do this presentation, and most of us had to scramble to get tickets at the last minute!
Sharon, I'm the one who did the intro for all of us that night. Thank goodness Mrs. Stojko let us have her "boy" for a few cherished moments.
It was very, very special. As Sharon has described so well, it was a moment that I would treasure forever, really. What I really took back from everything was the focus Elvis gave to each one of us presenting. Mrs. Stojko had originally told me that we could have 5 minutes only...so I had to abandon my little speech, and speak from my heart, which I am proud to say, "bought us" an extra few minutes from Mrs. Stojko. She was very complimentary towards myself, and the group, and she said that after hearing what I said, we could have more time. So that was awesome. I can quote what she said to me, because I never forgot it. She said, "He is my son, and I want him to come home with me, as it is now Mother's Day". I smiled at her, and said, "Mrs. Stojko, I honour that. I am a mother too, and I have left my daughter at home to come here. If you say 5 minutes, then I thank you for giving us that gift, and your timeline will be honoured by all of us". She took my hand, she squeezed my hand, and she had tears in her eyes. She then said, "I like you. You may have the time you need; I can see there has been much effort made on behalf of my son".
And so, we had about 10 or 15 minutes. It was amazing. Getting back to Elvis - his focus was what I took away from that meeting. I'm sure all of us felt the same way. When we were speaking, he would turn his attention to us in turn I can't speak for others, only myself. When I explained the gift we were giving, and why, he looked me right in the eyes as I talked. He turned his body towards me, and looked right into my eyes. He listened - I mean, truly listened. He did not avert his eyes, he did not look away, or put his head down...he kept eye contact until I was finished, then turned toward the next person. It was truly amazing.
The following year, Elvis was in my hometown for the Nationals, and I happened to be walking in the large mall....right towards him!!! Of course he didn't remember me, however, I did an "about turn" and followed him!!!! He was with a friend, and they were at a bank machine....and, yes, I waited for him to finish his banking before I blurted out that I would love his autograph! He smiled, gave me an autograph on a scrap piece of paper, and turned to go, however I said, "I really wanted to get an autograph last time we met, but that wasn't the time for it, since we were giving you a gift that night". He looked at me, blinked....and I filled him in. He was very gracious, really, considering I had just imposed myself on his day!! But he did tell me that it was the most interesting gift he had ever received from a group, and that he had thought alot about it since then...and that it had meant alot to him. I shook his hand, and away he went. I pretty much leaped and frollicked the rest of the day!!!!!
So those were my experiences. Oh, before that, I did get my Elvis book autographed by him. But there were hundreds of us there. The other 2 times were much more personal. I really liked him.
I've read alot about how he is "snotty' and "detatched" and "arrogant", etc. I never believed that anyway, but he was nothing but honourable and gracious with me. He is a "private" person. He is "focused". And, he is "proud". Very much like that Dragon we honoured him with.
Thanks for "listening"!
Take care. Sharon, nice to hear from you again. I signed in as "Marion" during those days - my middle name. Do you remember me?